Pashinyan and Putin to Intensify Cooperation Between Armenia and Russia

MOSCOW — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to intensify cooperation between their two countries and strengthen their political, economic and security ties.

During talks in Russian President’s residence in Novo-Ogarevo on Tuesday, the leaders exchanged views on the situation in the South Caucasus, spoke in favor of the continuation of the constructive work in the sidelines of the regular meetings between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia and the consistent implementation of the November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021 agreements reached between the three leaders for the benefit of regional stability, security and economic development, stressed the decisive contribution of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to the provision of security of Nagorno Karabakh and creation of favorable and safe living conditions for the population, emphasized the need for an urgent solution to pressing humanitarian issues and the settlement of all issues through political and diplomatic means.

In this context, both leaders underlined the importance of using the potential and experience of the institute of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, in accordance with its international mandate.

In a joint statement issued after their talks Putin and Pashinyan said the “privileged alliance” of their states will grow stronger.

“Vladimir Putin and Nikol Pashinyan expressed concern over the use of unilateral restrictive measures by a number of countries,” they said, clearly referring to the Western sanctions. “They expressed their intention to jointly overcome the challenges caused by these measures, including in the field of food and energy security of the two countries, logistics, etc.”

In particular, they said, the two sides will continue to “facilitate the flow of Russian investments in Armenia.”

Pashinyan and Putin hailed the results of the work aimed at bringing the trade turnover between Armenia and Russia to the path of sustainable growth.

The need for further diversification of the categories of trade, further progressive growth of volumes, the development of cooperation in various spheres of production, the active implementation of the mechanisms of the Eurasian Economic Union were stressed.

An agreement was reached to encourage the establishment of close ties between the business circles of the two countries, including through interregional and local self-government platforms, through the application of business mission mechanisms, the leaders of the two countries said in a joint statement.

The work done to finalize the economic cooperation program between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the Russian Federation for 2022-2025 was positively assessed.

The high demand and efficiency of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation, as well as the Working Group on Industry in terms of elaboration and implementation of bilateral practical arrangements were underlined. Mutual interest was expressed in holding permanent industrial exhibitions in the territory of Armenia, including, with the emphasis on cooperation in the field of high technologies.